
E 







["XtS 



I 




( 



THE PJ:0FLE 



V s . 



Maj.-Gen. John A. Dix, 



ox THE CHARGE OF CLOSING THE OFFICES OF 



''THE WOELD," AND "THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE," 



BECAUSE OF THE PUBLICATION OF A FORGED PROCLAMATION, 

ASSUMED TO BE WRITTEN BY THE PRESIDENT 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 



(PRINTED IN "THE TRIBUNE" OFJULV 29tu, 1864:,) 



BY 



PETER Y. CUTLER, LL. D. 



NEW yORIv: 
BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS, 

PRINTING-HOUSE SQUARE, OI'P. CITY HALL. 

1865. 



4 



THE PEOPLE 



V S 



Maj.-Gen. John A. Dix, 



ON THE CHARGE OF CLOSING THE OFFICES OF 



"THE WOKLD," A^i) "THE JOURNAL UF COMMERCE," 



BECAUSE OF THE I'UBLICATION OF A FORGED PROCLAMATION, 

ASSUMED TO BE WRITTEN BY THE PRESIDENT 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 



I'Ul.NTKJ) IN "TUb; TKIBUNE" OF JULY 'iOxu, lsr.4,) 



BY 



TETEU Y. CLTLEi:, LL. D. 



NEW YOKK: 
BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS, 

I'UINTI.NG-UOUSK SQUARE, OI'P. CITY HALL. 



1, 18G5. 



i 



61^0* 



05 






INTRODUCTION. 



To MY Friends : 

I am induced to re-publish the following argument — 

1st. By the comments of The Times, The Tribune, and The Eve- 
ning Post newspapers, upon the remarks which they attribute to me, 
at the Broad Street meeting. It Vf'iW be seen that the following argu- 
ment was written in the midst of the conflict ; and my friends can 
judge, from its whole scope, whether I was a Secessionist then ; — if 
not then, surely not now, since Secession has been overthrown by the 
sword ; and 

2dly. Because I have recently been denounced by the Republican 
papers as a Secessionist, a charge most false, but which has never- 
theless injured me much, socially and professionally. 

I never was a Secessionist. In 18G0, at a Convention in Saratoga, 
I delivered a speech in which Secessionists and Abolitionists were 
alike denounced, the fnrnieras earnestly as the latter, iihd'myopposi- 
tidu to Secession has been consistent and uniform ever sir\ce. 

But I do not deny that at the same time I have" opposed the acts 
of the political Abolitionists with equal zeal, and have exposed the 
wanton violations of the Constitution of which the late Administration 
were guilty, Avith an unsparing hand. It seems to be, however, quite 
impossible for the ultra political x\bolitionists to see any distinction 
between one who refuses his assent to their doctrines of extermination 
and one who is an out-and-out Secessionist. 

In fact, the extreme men yv\\o have wielded the power of the 
nation for some four yeai's past, and who still exercise so great a 
measure of influence over the Administration, have been compelled, 
in order to accomplish their objects, to set the Constitution at naught 
and its defenders at defiance; and it is not at all singular that they 
should heap obloquy on those whose arguments they are unable to 
answer. 

The following argument is designed for the perusal of those calm 
and conservative men who can see no inconsistency in the course of 
one who, while adhering to the Constitution and all its guarantees 
of personal liberty, is nevertheless not a Secessionist. 

The greatest compliment a Secessionist should desire is to find 



n 

himself uniformly grouped with the defenders of the Constitution, in 
the catalogue of the exterminators. 

Could the ultra political Abolitionists, "the Exterminators," have 
all the powers they desire, they would introduce a reign of terror not 
a ])article less bloody than that which prevailed in France at the 
close of the last century, if we may be permitted to judge from the 
tone of their newspapers. 

They are all the time crying out for more blood. All who have 
taken part in tlic war arc guilty, and, according to their theory, all 
the guilty should \h', executed. 

They advocate the trial of Davis by a military commission, in 
defiance of the known and atkuowlcdged ])rohibitions of the Consti- 
tution. 

Until Ik- is tried, they demand and have secured his imprisonment, 
ill a mode which to him, or any other intellectual man, is in itself 
torture — a la bastille, in the middle ages. 

So, too, with other political prisoners. Their constant cry is, — 
Away with them ; let them be executed. 

I believe that a time will come when the sober second-thought 
of the j>eople will calmly review the cvi-iits of the last fmir years, and 
then they will sec that all its bloodshed and .ill its harrowing scenes 
have ht'cii liroiight ujioii us by extremists of both sections — not by 
those who defended the Constitution, Init by that persistent, zealous, 
puritanical baud of fanatics, who setting all constitutional restraints at 
deiiance, were the fn-st and original Secessionists, acting with the 
extremists of the South. The Altolitionists first declared that to live 
longer in fcllowshi]) with the Southern States was a deadly sin, pro- 
claimed the Constitution " a covenant with death and an agreement 
with hell," and refused to be bound by its provisions. From that 
point they went un, and on, and on, until they had tortured and 
provoked the sensitive South into an attempt at revolution, which of 
course, and very properly, failed. That the lanatics designed to 
bring on the war is plain t'rom their own language. Thus, Wendell 
Phillips said in on,- m[' his speeches: "Let ns goad on the South in 
hei' madness till every step she takes forwaril in hei- i.liuducss is one 
step nearer nil it.'''' 

Who, then, were the original Secessionists ? Why, Secession was 
proclaimed as a lawful remedy by a New England Member of Con- 
gress in 1808, about fifty years before it was thought of as a remedy 
in the South. As in days of yore, these men pointed the finger of 
scorn towards all who were anxious to stay the steps towards M^ar 



Ill 



befori' it begun, as "Union savers;'' so now they point with equal 
scorn to tliosc who desire to save the reputation of the country from 
tlie indelible stignia a military trial and executionof Jeff Davis would 
attaeli to it, as "the iViends of -letf Davis." A great nation in the 
execution of its laws, especially those in vindication of its sovereignty, 
should be magnanimous as well as just. Such has been the pervad- 
ing spirit of all Christendom during the last half century. Even 
Austi'ia granted an amnesty to Hungary after the insurrection of 
1841), and Russia to Poland after the late insurrection. 

But look abroad, Ibr one moment, and <'onsider the spectacle 
presented by the acts of this party. They have subjected us to a 
military despotism, in time of peace, the most absolute the Morld 
ever saw ; in no quarter of this feir land is either life, liberty, or 
property safe i'rom the hands of a military satrap. Free speech, a 
free press, free elections, and whatever erst was free, is now held at 
the mere will of the militarv commander of the district. Althouirh 
the war is ended, the Habeas Corpus is still suspended, military trials 
of citizens still continue, and military punishments are still remorse- 
lessly inflicted. 

When will these tilings cease? When will the Sovereign People 
arise in their majesty and drive these military despots from power? 
When will our worthy President cast off the influence by which he 
has been surrounded, and re-assert his life-long principles, one of which 
was a strict construction of the Constitution and a literal fulfillment 
of its mandates 1 

I believe the time is not distant. And millions of Democrats 
who are as pure patriots as the land contains are anxiously looking 
for tlie dawn of that day, that they may then give the President their 
full and undivided support. 

I am sure they will not wait long, fn- it is inq:>ossible that Andrew 
Johnson, the sterling Democrat, whom we have all admired as the 
first and greatest of America's self-made statesmen, should long listen 
to the advice of New England fanatics of I lie Sumner-Wilson school. 

The President is a man of almost unrivaled grandeur of intellect. 
Among the statesmen of tliis country he has few if he has any equals. 
A man of massive mind, keen penetration, astute, far seeing, alive to 
the interests at stake, and well acquainted with tlie men by whom he 
is surrounded, can it be doubted that he will soon assert his independ- 
ence of Radical influence, and will, like Andrew Jackson, make him- 
self felt as the President and the lluler of the Nation. 

From my youth up Andrew Johnson has been my model, my 



IV 



Meal of a patriot statesman, ami I laiiiKjt give liiiii u|i to the fanatics; 
but, on the contrary, I yield him my earnest support. 

The "Radicals," as they call themselves, are daily guilty (if the 
highest of high-treason, ("or it is treason against our most cherished 
Repuljlican institutions. They interfere with the elections, for exam 
pie, and thus render an absolute immunity to mal-administration by 
exempting it from ])unisiiment ; they clamor for, and obtain, the 
arrest by the military of loyal men on frivcjjous charges, and thus 
violate one of the most sacred guarantees of the Constitution; they 
demand that blood should flow in torrt-nts in strains as unreasoning 
as those of tlu'li- ancestors the wildi persecutors of Plymouth Rock. 

And in some places it is granted them, as witness the recent 
murder of .1 udfre Wright and his four sons bv the militia of Missouri — 
one of the most cold-bloooded murders ever known in a civilized 
State. 

Unless a speedy remedy is pioxideil ; ii' these men are permitted 
to continue these lawless acts of despotic power much longer, without 
the intervtMition of tlir l'i('sid(Mit, 1 feai- me much that the people will 
resort to a remed}^ terrible as the wrongs under which they groan. 
And what remedy does history teaeh us the people under such 
circumstances usually seek ? Not a Vigilance Committee, as in San 
Francisco, because there the wrongs were local and temporary ; 
whereas these evils pervade the whole land, from Maine to California, 
anil extend to the whole people. No man can say when he retires 
at night to his peaceful couch, that he may not be dragged to prison 
before the dawn liy the guard of some petty Provost Marshal whose 
•lignity he may have offended ; or by the authority of some higher 
military power wielded by a man who, prior to the War, was, perhaps, 
his steward or his clcik,if not his coachman vr footman! Threats 
have been freely thrown out even in the Repul)liean newspapers, that 
innocent persons slionld lie thus ari'csted loi- no oll'cnse whatever, 
except differing from the editor's opinion. What, tluMi, is the 
remedy? Is it the renie<ly whii'li the Ibngnndian democrats of the 
Middle Ages foimd in the Jloly N'elim ? ( h- those of Arragon in 
" The Holy Ofliee?"' These Trilmnals — acting in secret — bound by 
secret oaths, wielded a power higher tlian that of the thi'ones above 
them, and though Charles of Burgundy sought to snp|)ress those in 
his territories, and Fer<linand those in S[)ain, yet history teaches us 
how vainly their eflbrts cnde<l. I would not advocate such a remedy 
for despotism; Iml without any advocacy of mine, the People will 
resort to a remedy, possibly ablootly one, if experience shall in the end 
prove that thei-e is no other mode of abating these evils. Possibly the 



V 



people may seek and liiid it, as the noble old English barons did on 
the plains of Runnymede where the guarantees of liberty were origin- 
ally extorted, sword in hand, and solemnly recorded in Magna Chaita. 

When Charles I. violated the guarantees of personal liberty, a 
Cromwell arose and Charles lost his head ; and later, wiicii .lames II. 
again violated the liberties of tin- people, a Prinee i»f Orange was 
found to drive him frmii his throne. Sueh are the renieilies wliieh 
history teaches us the })cupl(' fnid for despotic power. 

At the present moment no man can shut his eyi-s to the |ior- 
tentous fact that all the guarantees of personal liberty and personal 
security contained in the Constitution are practically suspended. 
In a word, whilst, the Habeas Corpus continues t(j be suspended, 
and military arrests are allowed at the mere will of a military com- 
mander; whilst trials by jury can be at pleasure suspended and mili- 
tary trials substituted ; whilst elections are under tlie control of the 
nnlitary, and no man can vote except as the military powers decree ; 
whilst these things continue it is a mere mockery to remind us that we 
have a Republican Constitution, and an Elective Government. When 
the Constitution is ])ractieally annulled, and free elections have ceased 
to exist by the act of the military authorities, we have, in fact, a 
military despotism — notliing more, notliing less. What, then, sh;ill 
be the remedy 1 

Shall we sit down and supinely submit to the despotic sway of 
the patriots of Plymouth Rock? Shall these persistent, meddlesome, 
intrigning, hypocritical politicians, rule the nation with a rod of 
iron ? — by the bayonet and the sword, and that bayonet, that sword 
in the hands of their creatures alone? Forbid it. Heaven ! And 
may our Gracious Father above find us a bloodless remedy. 

Whilst I am happy to see this proud galaxy of States once more a 
unit, it pains me to the heart's core to see the one-half of our once 
peaceful and happy land made a second Poland. 

The arrest, trial, conviction, sentence and imprisonment of the 
Brooklyn alderman by tlie military authorities, was an insult to 
every citizen in the land. Insult — it was more — is was a pt'i'petual 
nunace to every citizen, whether the huml)lest or the most exalted, 
and when such events are transpiring around us in a time of profound 
peace, we see the estimate which our rulers place uj)on the value of 
our free institutions. Perhaps it nuiy be said that Chesterman 
was o-uilty. \t' no, why not try him in the civil courts and liy a jin-y 
of his peers, pursuant to the law of the land. Trial by jury is 
guaranteed to all: to the nu'anest criminal as well as the proudest 
citizen. And the conviction of that man, and the execution of the 



VI 



sentence by the military tribunal, despite Judge Lotts' Habeas 
Corpus, proves that every man is in jeopardy ; none so high, none so 
low as to escape the fangs of tiiis irresponsible power, acting in the 
silence uf miilniglit, and ae-tiiig, too, without law not only, but in 
opposition to thr dii'L'ct pn)Iiii)itions of the highest law, the organic 
law of tiic laud. Can these things be? asks the indifferent and unin- 
lornied citizen. Ask of the keepers of the Bastiles at Forts Warren, 
f^aFayette, Delaware, and wherever we have a fortification witli case- 
mates large enough lor tlie reception of ]>risoners. Ask of tiie 
thousands who ha\'e hern thi'i-c ininini-ed, and wli^se loudest coinphduts 
were eciioed iiaek l)y liie waxes of the Atlantic — witiiout awaking a 
responsive sentiment in the heart of any pitying official. But ask in 
whispers. To speak out in maidy tones on the subject of these 
military imprisonments is treason — for aught I know, high treason — 
(according to the new code of the radicals) and so punishable by 
death. 

'i'ell it not in (!atii : that in this lu-oad, once happy and free land, 
where a Washington fought tiiat he might enjoy the liberties 
guaranteed to Englishmen by Magna Charta ; in this land where 
erst a nation fought for seven long years to maintain their Declaration 
of Independence, (a declaration containing a specification of the 
inalienai)le rights and liberties of man) that these rights ; all those 
liberties ; were basely surrendered, to an irresponsible military power, 
at the close of four years of wai-, waged avowedly for tlie extension of 
liberty to an oppressed race. Tell it not, I say, that the victorious 
liberators became, in turn, the oppressors; and oppressors, too, of 
men of their own race and lineage. 

But ere long, tVei'men will arouse from thcii- ju-esent lethargy, and 
will see that every military arrest is a direct attaik upon the liberties 
of all; no matter how humlile the man may be, his arrest puts in • 
jeopardy the rights and liberties of all. W ho. indeed, is safe in tlfese 
times 1 

We have made Majoi'-Generals of eoachmen, an<l. for aught I know, 
of footmen. !Suppos<' one of these exalted personages entfrtains a 
nndicions [)assiou of revtMige to gratify against his former nuister ? 
IIow easy and clfeelual a mode is presented. Tie has only to order 
his arrest and imprisonment. No eye can see him — no ear hear liis 
complaint, save those of the military, and he might as well address 
himself to adamant as to a])ply to the militai'v for leliet'. lie cannot 
obtain even a form of military trial, ludess il suit the |ileas\ire of the 
militar\ authorities, and if he does it is a ti-ial iiv a Military Commis- 



VII 



sion, not Inj jury. But many have "been imprisoned fur long periods 
Avithout trial : without ever knowing the complaints against them. 
It was thus with General Stone, and with Olds, of Ohio, and many 
others. 

"What, then is to be done? Shall freemen in the land of Wash- 
ington, and Hancock, and Adams, sit tamely down and Lear these 
evils without a word of remonstrance. No, forbid it Heaven ! 

Let us first address ourselves earnestly to the Pi'esident. He was 
a Democrat. Let us hope he is still impelled l)y the high and holy 
love of liberty which inspired him in his earlier life. 

Let us hope he will rid himself of the evil counselors around 
him. Let us hope, and while we hope try peacefid means, until longer 
to hope becomes a mockery, and then act as becomes ficemen having 
a priceless heritage of liberty to preserA'e. 

I attended the Broad street meeting at the request of some gentle- 
men, to protest against the trial of Jefierson Davis before a military 
tribunal. I deem it more important to the fair fame of the country 
than to Davis that no such trial be had. It would allix an indelible 
stain upon the bright escutcheon of America thus to try him. 

Whilst at the meeting I stated my objections to a military trial, 
as I thousht, fairlv ; but uttered no word of treason: no word that 
a truly loyal man could object to in the least. Yet what was the 
result '? A police spy gave a colored, fictitious, and garbled statement 
of the proceedings, false in every essential feature, and one of the ultra 
Republican new spapers deems the. clemency of the (Tovt'rnment ex- 
treme in permitting me to go at liberty so long. 

Of what offense was I guilty \ Was it treason ? Treason consists 
in acts, not in words. What was it then % A calm discussion of opin- 
ions which differ from those of the Radicals. This I had a right to do 
under the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. But the 
Radical Republican press, represented by The Times newspaper, 
would annul the guarantee that it might thus put down opposition. 

The jieriod may arrive when The Times may represent opinions 
entertained by the minoiity, and then I am sure it will a]>|>eal to 
the freedom of speech and Ireedoni of the press, as guarantees worth 
preservation. 

Frequently during the war it was proclaimed in tlie Kepuhlicau 
journals, that all they desired was a restoration of the Union, 
with a return of the Southern States upon the terms of perfect ei|ual- 
ity contained in the organic compact. And that so soon as the war 
was ended, military arrests, and other infractions of the Constitution, 



VIII 



would cease. This I fondly believed. But how have these promises 
been kept 1 The South lies helpless at the feet of the North ; and 
yet no concessions are made ; no stej) is taken towards a return to 
Constitutional nilo. l»iit llic rights <.f'tli(> Noi'th are as much jeopard- 
ized by these acts — aye destroyed — as those of the South. And 
patriots are appealed to by the actual state of affairs, in all parts of our 
common country, to re-asserl thr rights tenipurarily (1 trust only tem- 
porarily) taken from them as well at the North as at the South. Re- 
jtublican forms are still i)reserved. liut so was it in Rome. Long 
after Octavius Ctesar (called Augustus) had deprived the Romans of 
their liberties, and introduced the most absolute despotism, he retained 
the ancient forms of the Republic. So here, the substance of lilterty 
lias vanished. Its lifeless form only remains with us, as if to mock 
us, like the skeleton in the closet. 

A dark portentous cloud looms drearily over the land, and por- 
tends the outbreak of a storm, which will rend fiercer than fiercest 
lightning-stroke, and resound with a detonation more dread and dire 
than tliunders' loudest peal. It is a cloud created by despotism 
and it threatens to Inirst in another ainl mightier tempest of civil 
war, than that just ended, at no distant day. Should the present evils 
continue, ten years will not elapse before we shall have another out- 
break more dire than the last. It will he an outbreak at the North 
as well as at the South, to put an end to intolerable despotism. May 
Heaven avert such a calamity. 

Let us, then, with one accord, strive to avoid so terrible a step. 
Let us do so by nKU'al means. Let argument take llie place of tlie 
sword, moral-suasion be used instead of cannon balls; and I hope and 
trust that ere long the personal rights secured l>y the Constitution, may 
once more be restored to </// the people. May we soon again adopt 
the doctrine that the Constitution is the supreme r)rganic law of the 
land, and is to be strictly construi'd, and imp/ici/ft/ ohet/e(f ; any vio- 
lation of whose guaranteesof personal rights (such as a denial of free 
speech, a fi'ee press, right oftiial liy jury, and habeas cor{)Us), is in 
itself despotism. Let this be adopted as a funda mental principle — 
vital, life-supporting — without which liberty will cease to be, because 
no |i'iio(.|- secure, and without which a Iki>|>ublic becomes a sham, a 
liN-wonl, and term ol" reproach among the nations. It is so, because 
it is a constant living lie; it professes to be free, whilst it is actually 
despotic; it is a mere mockery, tor it claims to resprd the rights 
ot" man, only to deprive him of all those rights. May Heaven for- 
bid that our ( Joveinment should be such a sham, such a lie, such a 
mockery. 



ARGUMENT 

OF ^N AMICUS CURIAE. 



-♦►-♦♦■-♦- 



THE PEOPLE agt. GEN. DIX. 

A groat war is raging in tliis country, bnt tlie causes M'liich 
have ])rodnced it, ami tlie circumstances wliicli have accom- 
])anied it, are constantly ignored, and denied, by a certain class 
of our citizens, who, while they are unwilling to expose their 
<»wn persons in the tield, are yet anxious, nay, determined, to 
reap and enjoy all the advantages of active Treason, without 
earnino; the name of Traitors. 

The forbearance of the Government, not oidy to those bear- 
ing arms against it in the tield, but to those plotting at home 
to aid their brethren in the Held — its forbearance, its patience, 
ay, even its compassion for such persons has been conspicuous 
from the very beginning. 

Before the actual commencement of the war, the Rebels 
Avere in arms, with avowed purposes of hostility to the Govern- 
ment, yet it was humanely determined, that while every con- 
stitutional means should be used to preserve the Union, to 
ari-est, if jiossible, by moderate but firm measures, a recourse 
to force,^' and that, if the curse of war should fall on our 

*The following is from 'J'hc ChriHt'um Advocdte uml JinirudJ of July 
28th, 1864 : 

" No thoughtful American can have much difficulty in solving the prolj- 
Icm of European opinion respecting the American war. But the very ap- 
parent, the certam solution of that problem (if problem it may be called) 
gives it its saddest aspect. 



then happy land, it slionLl, at all events, not l>e called d(nvn 
Ity any offensive act on tlii' jiait of the goveruuient of the 
United States. 

Tlie Govennnent waited w ith wonderful patience till it was 
attacked, till llic caiiiinn of South (^aroliiia were dlscharii-ed 
at^ainst its i;-aiTison in Fort Snniter, and the ciulth'in (tf oui- 
sovereio-nty traikvl in the du^t : and tlicn it actctl ; it declared 



" The assumption that, liy the tenns of the National Conferleration, the 
right of secession is justified, is a specuhitive affectation whieli cannot l)e 
seriously avowed by European thinkers. They must know, they do htoir, 
tliat it is a flagrant fallacy. The founders of the Tlepu1)lie expressly declare 
that by the consoli<hition of the colonists, they founded a va/ion, not a mere 
league of nations. The monstrous al)surditics which logically and inevita- 
bly flow from the op])osite theorj% forl)id any reflecting man to entertain it 
a moment. What, on such a theory, becomes of national financial credit { 
Nations must borrow money ; all do so. What security remains to national 
creditors if any or all ])arts of a nation can recede from the national compact 
at discretion ( What l>ecomes of a people's security in periods of war if 
the largest or smallest section may step aside from the controverey and re- 
fuse its cooperation ? What, even in ordinary times, becomes of the support 
of the conunon government if its commercial revenue can at any moment 
))e deranged and defeated by the independence of States ha\nng chief ports, 
like Alassachusetts with Boston, New York with its great metropolis, Penn- 
sylvania with Philadelphia, Maryland -with Baltimore, Virginia with Nor- 
folk, South Carolina with Charleston ? No, no ! European politicians and 
statesmen know well that such a right of secession is the flimsiest possil)le 
sophism ; that the great statesmen of the American Revolution were the most 
])reposterous fools that ever dabbled in State-craft if they organized the Rc- 
])ul)lic on such a basis of quicksand. European thinkers cannot admit such 
an absurdity without consciously insulting their self-respect. 

" What then ? What but that the reliellion is an enormous national 
crime, against which all civilized comnumities should protest — that it is a 
crime against the national life, as much so as Avould be a similar revolt of 
Wales or Scotland fnmi tiie government of England :' Would not Ensrland 
deem herself justi fled in resisting such a revolt to the utmost i Would she 
a<hnit mawkish and whim])ering ])l('as of humanity for the plotters of such 
treason^ Would she listen to remonstrances al>out the slaughter of men 
and the sacrilice of property in a struggle for her national existence against 
such a heinous offense i! Would she not rather demand, and rightly de- 
mand, that the greater her sacrifice's, the more extreme her struggle for the 
maintenance of righteous government, the greater should l)e the res]>ect of 
the civilized world for her ? " 



that war existed by the act <if tlie Eebek, and called out an 
army to sn])press the rebellion. Thns the war beo'an. 

One or two other words ]>rcliminary to (Uir snbject, and 
then we will examine the eonstitntional qnestions invohcd 
more closely. 

The Kebels contend now, and always have contende<l, thut 
they had a rijxht to secede; that onr liepnblic is a sort of lim- 
ited partnershi]), not a nation ; that the Constitntion is l>u1 :i 
treaty between soverei_i»"n States. 

The fallacy of these arguments is easily shown to those fa- 
miliar with the C\)nstitntion. The States, in ceasing to be an 
aggregation of connnonwealths, a confederation, and in becom- 
ing parts of a nation with one snpreme Government, deriving 
its powers not Irom the several States, but from the whole peo- 
]>le of the United States, formed a Constitntion, not a league, 
which was to be a permanent definition of the rights and powers 
of the Government so established, as well as a deiinition of the 
mode in which its sovereio-ntv was to be exerted. This is plain 
from the fact that the States surrendered all the essential atti-i- 
butes of sovereignty to the General Government. The right 
to make treaties, to declare war, levy taxes, exercise exclusi\e 
judicial, legislative, and executive powers, were all of them 
functions of sovereign power. The allegiance of their citizens 
Avas transferred to the Government of the Union, and they then 
owed their first obedience to the Constitntion of the United 
States, which was declared to be the snpreme law of the land, 
and to govern and form the rule for decision even when in con- 
Hict with the provisions of a State Constitution. How, then, 
can a State be said to be sovereign, whose citizens owe obedi- 
ence first, to laws made by the C^ongress of the United States, 
pursuant to the Constitntion of the United States, which laws 
and Constitution ai'c dcclai'cd to be paramount to those of auv 
State i 

What shows most conclusively that the States are not sover- 
eign is, that they have expressly ceded to the Government of 
the United States the right to punish treason — treason not 
against them, not against a State, but treason against the Gov- 
ernment of the Union. Treason cannot exist except where 



tliore is sovereignty. It is in its very essence a crime against 
sovereignty. If, then, tlic government of the State were sover- 
eign, tlie crime would be against tlie State; but treason is, by 
the veiy terms of tlie Oonstitntion, a crime against the Govei-n- 
ment of the United States, and tlie Constitution contains an ex- 
press delegation of ]_)(M^er to the (iovcrnmeiit of the I'^nion to 
punish it as such treason. 

The Constitution, therefore, forms a supreme national Gov- 
ernment between independent and sovereign States — not a 
league. It is a Government of the people, made by the people, 
according to its own preamble, which recites : " We, the peo- 
pk; oi' the United States," &c., " form this Constitution," &c., 
and it operates directly npcm the people as individuals, and not 
u]>o]i the States as States. Each of the States, with all of the 
other States, having delegated to the United States, by the 
l>lain import of the language em])l()yed in the Constitution, 
supreme sovereignty and all the powers requisite to create a 
lJni(jn and a Government invested with such sovereiffntv, which 
should be a nnit, any offense against that unity is an offense 
against the sovereignty of the Nation, i. e., it is treason. 

To say that a State may secede, is to say tliat the Govern- 
ment of the United States is not sovereign ; that this Republic 
is not a nation ; that we are not one people, bnt several peoples, 
loosely acting togethci- on i)rinci])les which are no better than 
anarchy. 

Ihit it is a solecism to declare that any part t)f one nation 
may dechu'e its secession, and total and final severance from 
that nation ; to declare the disintegration of a power -w liicli is 
a nnit. I shall proceed no rni'tlier to ]»rove tliat Secession is an 
im])ossil)i]ity as well as a criiiic ; that the supreme and ultimate 
power and sovereignty reside in the (government of llie Fiiited 
States; that allegiance is due to it, and treastdi may be com- 
mitted against it. 

The Government being a unit and supreme, an attempt ttt 
destroy it by force of arms is an offense in whatever mode the 
Constitiif ion luav liave been formed, and such supreme Govern- 
ment ha^- the rigiit of self (U'teiise — a riglit by the \\\\\ of self 
defense to pass any l(-;ishitive act l<i punish those who offend 



against its sovereignty, or who countenance or defend, aid or 
give comfort to those who are acting in hostility to the Govern- 
ment in any way whatsoever, as well as those who adhere to 
their cause. Congress has power to pass all laws to carry the 
constitutional powers of the Govenimeiit into effect, and there 
is no limitation to the power. 

But, independently of any delegation of power, every gov- 
ei-nment has, from the necessity of the case, ultimate power to 
maintain its own sovereignty, to protect its existence. The 
moment a government is created, without saying more, it is 
empowered to defend its own life hy all means, peaceful or 
warlike, which may be necessary or usual, or not, if the govern- 
ment vested with this idtimate sovereignty deems such means 
to be necessary. In such a struggle, a struggle for existence, 
the war is a war of might. The question is simply, Avliich is 
the stronger, the Government or they who seek to destroy it i 

]3ut more of this presently. The Constitution contains the 
rules by which this supreme and idtimate power of the Nation 
is to be exerted in time of peace, but not in time of war. This 
is frequently overlooked and seems to have been signally over- 
looked in the case of Gen. Dix. The Constitution provides 
the mode of conducting civil Government in time of peace, and 
the rules which are to be observed between the Government 
and its own citizens in peace, not between the Government and 
its enemies, in war. It nowhere prescribes how a war is to be 
carried on, either against Rebels or against other enemies ; or 
against those who adhere to them, and give them aid and com- 
fort, nor how Rebels shall be punished, except that it limits 
ibrfeitures to the period of the life of the felon, who has been 
guilty of treason. As to the punishment of the treasonalde 
num himself, it says nothing, but leaves Congress to enact the 
remedy. 

If the foregoing remarks are true, it appears that we have 
in existence a war, between a National Government and indi- 
vidual Rebels. S(jme in open rebellion, with arms in their 
hands, aided by many Rebels who have not taken up arms, and 
especially so aided, by persons in sympathy with them, in this 
city. That the Government patiently and compassionately en- 



deavored to put down the rebellion without the use of arms, 
but it M'as finall}'^ attacked and drawn into a war, which war is 
now being conducted, and that there is nothing in its Constitu- 
tion directly prescribing how a war shall be conducted. The 
war, then, must be conducted according to the known laws of 
war Avhen the Constitution was adopted. Tluit is the implied 
rule and the only one which can well be adopted on that sub- 
ject. The attempt to wrest from the Constitution, by violence, 
some of its provisions which were inserted in it as rules for the 
government of the judiciary, in administering justice in time 
of peace, and apply them t'" the events and crimes arising in a 
time of war, and declare that they are imperative, and must 
always and under all circumstances be obeyed, such an attempt, 
I repeat, is ridiculous. Inter arnui silent leges is the true 
maxim. Amid the din o^ arms it is impossible to follow laws 
iramed for civil administration in time of peace. 

Take' the famous 29 Ch. Magna Cliarta, fur exaui})!*'. In 
substance it provides that no free man shall be deprived ot 
])ropcrty or liberty, unless ])y the lawful judgment of his peers, 
or the law ol the land. Does that apply at all times and under 
iill circumstances 'i Yes, sav the advocates of this stran<:c idea. 
Well, if so, it is obvious that Grant and all his predecessors 
have strangely mistaken their duty, tor ;u-cording to that rule, 
(ilrant should never attack a redoubt, until he li;i> sununoned 
a grand jury, and had tlie Kebels indicted ; never seize a Jiebel 
and kee[) iiini inipristnied w itliout the judgment ol* a court ; 
nor execute a deserter or a spy, until tried ami convicted by a 
jury of his peers. 

By the terms of the Constitution, however, we see that the 
President is the Commander-in-Chief «>f the land and naval 
forces; Congress has the poAver delegated to it "to declare 
war, grant letters of nuvnjue and reprisal, and to make rules 
regarding captures on land and water.'^ The Constitution fur- 
ther declares tluit (bngress has power '' to raise ami support 
armies;" "to provide and maintain a mivy ; "" to make rules 
I'oi- the government of these Ibives ; " to provide for calling forth 
the militia, to execute the laws of the rnion, .^otjjjj /'ess insurrec- 
tions and repel invasions ; " and further *" to provide for organ- 



9 

izing, arming, and dij^ciplining flic militia, aiul for governing 
such part of them, as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, who are to be disciplined, according to the disci- 
]>Hne ])rescribed bv Congress." 

A glance at these powers will show that tlie fathers of the 
Republic, in framing the Constitution for the Government, 
which by their wisdom they created, designed that it should not 
be a powerless fal)ric, liable to be blown over by every wind of 
faction. It was to be a stable Government, and to have power 
when occasion demanded, to call out an army for its defense. 
And how, pray, was this military power to be used ? Was it to 
]troceed according to " due process of law 'i " Was it to make 
war through the intervention of a Grand Jury to present, and 
a Petit Jury to try? Away with such nonsense! The civil 
government ceases to exercise its powers /?/s^ where the military 
government hegins. The law of power, superior force, then in- 
terv'enes, and takes awav the functions of civil ofovernment, and 
the military acts, according to the laws of war. The maxim, 
inter anna silent leges^ then begins its application, and mil- 
itary law is emphatically the law of force, because it prescribes 
as its fundamental rule, that the most powerful shall govern. 
It allows, indeed prescribes, that the Commander-in-Chief 
shall so use his forces as to do the greatest possible amount of 
damage to his enemy, to M'eaken him by all the means in his 
power, and to arrest all persons, and take or destroy all prop- 
erty used for the aid and comfort of his enemies. Now, who is 
to determine in time of war who are enemies, and who give aid 
and comfort to enemies, or what property is used for the pur- 
pose of giving aid and comfort to them ? 

AVHio, for instance, is a spy ? AV^ho furnishes arms to ene- 
mies, or who furnishes them food or clothing or medicines >' 
Who but the Connnander-in-Chief, and he alone, without the 
aid of the Civil Magistrate, or a Grand Jury, or a jury of his 
peers, must determine these questions? It is necessary that 
they be decided instantly and the intervention of a Court would 
be im])ossible. Von say, perhaps he may err. So he may. 
But in the contiict of arms, when the maelstrom of battle is en- 

2 



10 

£!;nliing- all — or even In presence of an enemy in aetnal contliet, 
it wonkl be impossible to conduct war on any other principle. 

Besides, this principle is recoo;nized by the Constitution it- 
self. It pi-ovides for calling; ont armies and creates a Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and tlins iiiii>liedly gives to liini all the nsnai 
powei'S A\ith Avhicli such arunes are clothed and with which 
such connuanders are invested, and these are among the usual 
powers of a Commander-in-Chief. The Constitution by its 
terms grants all the incidental powers requisite to cai-ry int(» 
effect the ])owers expressly delegsited. 

Tlieiirst duty of such a Comuumder is so to conduct the wai- 
as to protect the nation, another chief duty devolving on liim is 
to ])rotect his army and render it as etKcient as possible. 

It is not necessary that the Constitution should contain an 
express delegation of such powers; they are iin})lied by the 
creation of an army and a CoinniaiMli'i'-iu-Chief with the usual 
powers. 

The President, then, as head of the army, as well as the 
chief of the Executive branch of the Government, is in tiuie 
of war to see to it, that the liepublic is not placed in danger by 
any one, and if any person does any act which aids and com- 
forts the enemy, or even if lie snspects any person of such a de- 
sign he nuxy, nay should, arrest him. For a suspected spy shouhl 
be arrested before he has time and opportunity to w^ork out his 
meditated treason. And the functions of tlie civil government 
are snspended as to stick persons ; they become subject to mili- 
tary law, and cannot com])lain even if an error is committed in 
respect to them. Hence the snspensioiv of the habeas corjnis in 
time of war. 

The editors of The World 'A\\(\ Journal of Coiivmerce^VsQXQ 
arrested and tlicir pa])ci's suspended by the (\>mniander-in- 
Chief ol" the army within a nulitary district, in time of actual 
war. Had he the right to do it { If what has been said is cor- 
rect, the act was cleai'lv no breach of anthority, and certainly 
not a crime. "^Fo hold it to be a crinu' Avould tend to dissolve 
the army, and ihi'ow tlie nation into anaivhy. if every act of 
a Commander in ( liiel' of an ainiy, or any act in that capacity, 
can be examinetl, i'e\iewe<l, and punished hy the civil magis- 



11 

trate in time of ivar^ then the power of a commander of an army 
is gone forever. In time of 2)eaee, of coin-f^e a dilierent rule 
prevails. 

Our citizens have been so solicitous to preserve our lilierties 
that some of them, in pursuit of ti'ial hy jury, the great palla- 
dium of liberty, have forgotten tliat it does not ap]>Iy to the 
government of an army, nor of a military district, while in a 
state of vmi\ but relates only to the govenunent of a civil com- 
munity, at peace. 

I might here rest tlic case; but it maybe i>roj)er to mention 
some circumstances surrounding the subject, which render it 
peculiarly improper for the civil magistrates t(j "Attempt to inter- 
iere in this particular case, at this time. 

These newspapers were pul)lishe(l in a city in wliicli, less 
tlian one year ago, all authority, both civil and military, Avas 
for some days entirely overthrown by an armed mob, to which 
many independent facts show that the Rebels looked for aid 
and comfort ; and which mob did eifectually aid and comfort the 
Rebels, at a time when an invading force of their army, powerful 
by its nundiers and means of assault, actually, for a time, 
threatened the overthrow of the National Capital,if they did not 
also contemplate the seizure of this great metropolis. That 
mob o})posed the soldiery of the I^s^ational Government, and 
nnirdered in cold blood many of those soldiers and their officers. 

That, that mob, was incited to act no less by secret agerits 
than by their own misguided passions, there are facts which prove 
beyond reasonable doulit, and it would be easy to show that 
articles published in those very newspapers, and others of a 
kindred character, had also a powerful tendency to produce the 
riot. Day by day, for more than a year past, those newsjiapers 
have teemed not only with the most violent invectives against 
the administration of the Government, and the administration 
t»f the Army, but with articles, the manifest purpose of which 
was to endiarrass the Government as much as possible in its 
conflict with the public enemy. And on the very day on which 
they were seized, they each published a forged papei', purjjorting 
to be a Proclamation by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
of such a character as to have an inevitably injurious eflect on 



12 

the Army, and on the credit of the Gorernment, which was 
then seriously impaired by the constant attacks made npon it 
in the newspapers Avhich were thns seized. The entire manage- 
ment of those papers, hut especially on the day on which they 
were seized, tended to give " aid and comfort to the enemy," 
and manifestly " adhered to " their cause, if not '' to them." 

They say that, the i^roclamation was not known to be forged. 
It suffices for the case of the representative of the Government 
to say that no other paper published it. All the other editors 
discovered its character, and if these did not, they should be 
treated as persons managing a dangerous machine, without skill 
to conduct it with safety to the common -wealth. 

IS^ow, under such circumstan(;es, 1 maintain tliiit it was not 
merely the right of the Gommander-in-Chiet' to arrest the 
editors and seize the papa's, but that he wouhl liave lieen 
derelict to duty had he not done so. They were manifestly 
"aiding and comforting" the Rebels. Their editors, jiot Gen- 
eral Dix, should be placed on their defense. 

But it is said that the act was in conHict with the clause 
forbidding the Government to deprive any person of life, liberty 
or property, without due process of law. \ li:i\e ah'eady 
attempted to show that this chnise does not prescribe a rule 
for a Commander-in-Chief of an army in, time of war, but to 
the administration of civil government in time of peace. That 
this is true, is clear from its language. It relates to a criminal 
prosecution in a court before a judge sitting peacefully in the 
due administration of the law, in the usual course of justice. 
It breathes an air of peace and security. It implies, at least,- 
that a civil court coidd sit, and administer justice. Could such 
a court be held in a camp? Could it be possible to bring every 
spy before it ? 

It obviously is a provision to be enforced in time of ^ctice 
and not amid the clash of arms. 

Perhaps a slight examination of the history of the clauses, 
''due process of law" aii«l "trial by his peers" may not be out 
of place. 

The clause is taken by us from 2i) Ch. Mag. C'har., ^\•here we 
read, " Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur * * * 



13 

nisi per legale judicinm parinm suoriim vel per legem terre," 
which mav be translated : " Ko free man shall he arrested or 
imjyrisoned, cfr., unless hy the lawful judgment of his ijeers or hy 
the law of the land.'' This clause, in substantially the same 
words in translation, is contained in tlie Constitutions of tlie 
several States and in the Constitution of the United States. In 
the 29 Mag. Char, it is found in eoimection with a promise not 
to sell justice, &c,, and was part of the grant originally made 
by King John to his rebellious Barons in arms on the plains of 
Runnymede. The clause is, however, tirst fomid in an ordi- 
nance of Conrad, Emperor of (Tcrmany; about 137 years prior 
to that time. It is a solemn promise by tlie Sovereign tu his 
subjects not to imprison without trifd l)v jury. It is not quite 
apparent liow this clause is applicable to the state of citizens in 
a I'epublic, in such circumstances as the present. ^V^as that 
j)romise ever kept, in England or America, even in peace { No. 
It was not even observed in form, either in Eup-land or here. 
There are more than one hundred statutes of the Colonv, and 
State of New York, authorizing summary couAactions, without 
jury ti-ial, and imprisonment, on conviction. Of such descrip- 
tion, are, all the statutes as to punishing vagrancy, and petty 
larceny. So, too, the statute allowing the Mayor to punisli 
cartmen, for driving without a license. The cartman on com- 
plaint is brought before the Mayor, and, if guilty, is convicted, 
and either lined, or imprisoned in tlie Tombs, or perhaps both. 
Is the imprisonment any the less real, Avhen it proceeds from 
the order of the Mayor, than when authorized by a conviction, 
based on a verdict 'i I fancy not. 

So, too, in England, the books are tilled with cases of 
imprisonment for a violation of the privileges of the House 
of Commons, by summary proceedings, in that body, without 
any trial by jury, or even the authority of a special statute. So 
too, punishments as for contempts, by order of the Chancellor 
\vithout tlie intervention of a jury, have Ijeen comnmn from the 
earliest liistorical records of that court. But the Statutes of 
England authorize numy such arrests, and imprisonments, by lo- 
cal magistrates. Take one for example — tlie 4 Hen. 7, as to labor- 
ers. It provides that every man found without employment, and 



14 



who refuses to labor fur a small fixed sum per diem, shall be 
summarily convicted bv a maijistrate withdut a jurv, and be im- 
]»risoned, till thefne in paid. Of the same rlescriptiun are nudti- 
tudes of smiiptuarv laws, laws a<>;ainst the em])]oyment of certain 
kinds of boats, and nthers. So we see Hint llic nilr \v;i> Ky iin 
means of universal a|i]»lic;iti(iii. in tlic ailniini>ti-;iti<>ii df jii-ticr, 
in time of peace, even, there. Tli is is attested most eloquently 
Itv the fact, thai Ma<j;na Chai'ta. \va^ confii-nicil bv Parliaincnt, 
after repeate(^l violation>, u\ci- one hnndrcil times, by s})ecial 
statnte. These statutes were in \iolatiiiii of AIaii"na Cliarta, ami 
therefore void. They wci-c al'tci-wards, in etiect, erased l)v the 
bloody record (tf Cromwcirs wai'. 

AVhile, tlieivl'ore, we si'C that men were dailv impfisoiieil 
withont trial l»y jnrv, in the course of the admiinstratiou 
oi' justice, how was it, in resjicct toils apjilicatioii to uulitai'v 
affairs? It is true that at remote ])eri(ids, there were spasmodic 
efiVu'ts, to ai»[tiy I lie lade to ])ei'sons accused of treason, faint, 
iniperfect effe>rts, as we see by the British state trials; but it is 
clear that no one e\er a]i]>ne(l it, to test the conduct of a com- 
mander-in-chief, of an aiMiiy. His conduct must be in(piired 
intobva different tribumil, and approved or punished accordin*^; 
to the judgment of a court-nuirtial, not a court, civil. 

DuriuiT the loni!; w.irs of the Roses — the wars of tlie houses 
of York and Lancaster — the lowerinji; clouds, succeeded by the 
loud thunders of the wai" of Parliament ai;'ainst diaries I.; as 
well as, during the cam[>aigns of Marlborough and AVellington, 
Avas it ever attempted to investigat(! the conduct of a connnan- 
der-in-chief, in time of Avar, — in any place, under any circum-' 
stances, — before a ci\il tribunal ^ No, sir; no. The concession 
of such a right, would ha\e rendered nnlitary operations abor- 
tive. 

U])on the just linuts of military power, and tlii' (piestion of 
the effect of the 29th (luipter Magna Charta. or rather as to 
whether that chapter, applies at all. to limit the war power, we 
have also the opinion of that great hiWTer, Mr. Ilargrave. He 
says, in his opinion upon (Irogan's case ((-rrogan. win* was 
tried by Court Martial and executed as a Rebel) that : 

" In 1799 an Irish act of J*arliament was passed, which in 



15 

effect appears to recoo-nize tliat it is a part of the Royal jpre- 
Togatlm^ durLno- the time of rel)ellion, to aiitliorize the Kiiig-'s 
(Teueral, and other conmuindiiig oiKcers, to pimisli rebels accord- 
iiio- to martial law, by death or otherwise, as to them shall 
seem ex})edie]it. That an act of Parliament may, for more 
etibctually suppressino- tlie rehelUo))^ so extend trial by martial 
hiw, and so also ffive to o-enerals and other eommandino; officers 
a tUscretion of punishino; rebels found guilty upon sneh trial, 
either witli death, oi* indefinitely in any otlier way, is not 
doubted." — (I. Jurisconsult Exer,, p. 399.) 

If such a law is not deemed to be inconsistent with Mao-na 
C'harta in Eiio-land, surely our far milder acts of Congress are 
not to be deemed infractions (^f the yery same Charta. No doubt 
Congress has the same power possessed l)y Parliament in respect 
to nuirtial law. What may be claimed imder royal prerogatiye 
in England, may be expressly granted by act of Congress here, 
although no such power can exist by implication, eyen in the 
President. 

Tlie Court of Star Chamber, also, while it existed, punished 
offenses without proceeding by due course of law, and without 
trial by jury. 1 Fargrave says : 

"The grand ol)jection to that Court (the Court of Star 
Chandler) was their exercise of arbitrary j)ower c»f fining, im- 
2)fisonhi<j^ and stigmatizing the King's subjects for libels and 
other jnisdemeanors, without trial hy jury^ and on a S(»rt of 
]»roceeding yery contrarient in other respects to the ordinary 
course of the English law." — (Ilargraye*'s opinion as to the 
h'gality of imprisoning Mr. T'eri-y, editor of The Morniny 
Chronicle^Xov an article reflecting on the House of Lords.) Yet 
\ye know that, that court, existed and exercised all its powers, 
foi- a v(M'v lono; time. It was not abolished till the 16th Charles 
1st. It had jurisdiction to Irv for forgeries and perjuries, which 
were then visited with the death penalty, and for routs, riots, 
!ind maintenances, emlu-acing, &c., which were all ]»unished l)y 
iiiil»risonnu^nt, without any form of jury trial. 

Property is j)rotected by the same clause of Magna Charta, 
and in as strong terms as personal liberty. If the clause is 
ai)plicable to the case before us, a commander-in-chief could be 



10 

Biied tor all the j)i-0])ei'ty dcsti'oyod hy nii army. If this were 
so Tio one would take comniand of an army. 

r>iit it will be asked, may arbiti-ary arrests l)e made without 
any remedy for an abuse of powers The remedy,! reply, is 
rnll, ample, complete. The President may not be indicted by 
the (xrand Jury, it is true, but lie may \m' impeached, if he 
transcends the limits of his ])()wcr, iiiid acts maliciously and 
oppressively. That is the remedy ]»res(^ribe(i by the (\)nstitn- 
tion, and it is the <»nly remedy, \vl)icli (•;ni be aj»pli(M|. And it 
is an am])ly sntHcient remedy. 

The power of makinji; arbitrary arrests, for If tlie arrest is 
to pass uiKjuestioncd, it amounts to a ])ower to nrrest, is dele- 
»i;ated to tlu^ President as C'ommaiider-in-C.hief ; i)ut it can be 
exer(;ised : 

1st. In time of war only; 

2d. It must be within a military district of the Pnited 
States ; 

8(1. And pertain to military affairs; and, 

4th. Tlu! act must be of such a natnre as to aid the army in 
actual military oi)erations in the field; or, to avert the conse- 
(juences resulting' from the acts of a hostile }>arty, or to punish 
l)ersons guilty of those acts: as to punish a spy, or any other 
pel-son aidinc; and abetting the enemy. 

The ])ower, althongh thus limited, is, in its immedhde exer- 
cise, to be judged of cmly by the Commander-in-Chief IFe 
alone, in his military capacity, is to determine the fact and the 
exigency, which demands the arrest of ])ersons, or the seixure or 
destruction of property. And his ordtM- must be obeyed. If, 
however, he transcends the just limits of his power, it cannot 
for that reason or any other be subjected to the adjudicati(»n of 
a civil court of law, except upon impeachment. 

And what lesson has been taught us, hy the pi'actice of 
patriots ill other hinds, in contests for natiomd indcpcMideiice 
and ci\il and religious liberty^ AVhen.the hardy followers 
of Cromwell were battling, in iron phalanx, to s(H'iire the lil)- 
ei'ties of their country, against Charles J., and when tlu' patriots 
of England were again warring under theleadershii* of William 
of Orange in 1688, to establish and guarantee, by the triumphs 



lY 

of the Revolution, the riglits of the people of Great Britain on 
a iirm basis, they did nut liesitate to arrest all who opposed the 
onward march of the Nation, and many such arrests were made 
bv tlie niilitarv, without j)roeess of law, at tlio very time when 
I'arliaiuent was discussing-, and (lc('idini>-, tli;it the Crown was 
vacant by the Nohintary abdication of .laim-s 1,1. The history 
of the time iibonnds with snch arrests. So, too, (hiring the 
memorable contest between the Protestant heroes and pati'iots 
of riolhnid against (Miarles V. iind Philip 1 1, of Spain, many 
plots were prevented, a,nd often was meditated treason defeated 
by the timely arrest, without due ]>r(jcess of law, of those who 
were thus jdotting. The pages of Motley and Prescott contain 
many instaiices of such arrests. Paul Buys, a distinguished 
counselor, as well as the three persons who conspired to deliver 
uj) Leydeu, Mere thus arrested. The three cons})irators were 
tried and executed, yet we nowhere read that the military au- 
thority, under which the arrests and executions took place, was 
objected to or complained of in any way. 

P>ut to say nothing of the history of arrests by the militarv 
;irm in other countries, what was the course pursued bv our 
Kevolutionarv lathers ^ From the very beii-inninff of the con- 
test to tlie close of the Revolutionary War, such arrests were 
made without due process of law, and no one questioned their 
propriety or legality. 

Take one statement, for example, from Wakeley's Early 
J 1 istory of American Methodists, L. chap., }>. 27. lie savs : " As 
early as October, 1765, tlie merchants generally resolved not to 
im])ort goods from England ' unless the oppressive and uncon- 
stitutional stani]) act was repealed.' Those wdio continued to 
trade with England, were C(»nsidered and treated as open ene- 
miex to the ciinl mid. religious interests of their cmmtnj. Some 
were sent to jail for importing English goods, and their families 
ruined in conse(pience." 

But there is yet clearer ju-ecedent, yet higher authority u[)on 
this ])oint. Throughout our struggle with the Government of the 
mother country for our riglits as English freemen, there were 
certain of our people who (to use the words of Mr. (Teor<>-e 
Tick nor Curtis, the historian of our Constitution), " from a 

3 



18 

Rense of duty, or from cupidity, or from some motive, good or 
bad, made their election to adhere to the public enemy , and they 
were therefore rightfully classed^ according to their personal ac- 
tivity and importance, among the enemies of the country, by 
those whose business it was to conduct its affairs and fight its 
battles." The most of these people were in South Carolina, 
where the present war against our Government began. But 
they were t(» be found in many other places, and there were 
some in Queens county, Lonj Island, in this very State. These 
New Yorkers, like those among us of whom they seem to have 
been the pn^t^type, did not actively and oj)only ()]ip()se the 
war, but their coiKhict was such as to cause them to be " sus- 
])ected of designs nnfriendly to the views of Congress." The 
reason why they were so suspected was, not that they worked 
against the Congress, or even wrote and talked against it, l)ut 
that they simply voted against electing members to the Pro- 
vincial Convention. The Province of New York was not at 
that time the theati'e of hostilities, l)ut there were a])prehen- 
sions, as there have been in the present war, that it might ere 
long l)ecome so. It was in January, 1776, Congress was in 
session in Philadelphia, and Washington the Commander-in- 
(;hief of our army, was with the army in Massachusetts. Now 
it is remarkable and very important that Washington, as Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and the Congress, as the then sovereign power 
— sovereign by necessity of the case, for Independence Mas not 
yet declared, and even the first Confederation was not yet 
formed — acting iiulependently of each other, and without con- 
sultation, sent an armed force into Long Island to arrest, sum- 
marily and arbitrarily, these people who were "suspected of 
designs unfriendly to the views of Congress." 

The troops entered Queens county from both east and west, 
and marcliing into it, they "disarmed every inhabitant who 
had \oted against choosing members to the Convention ;'' and 
not only so, but they arrested many, and without any "judg- 
ment of ])eers," or "process of law," they sent nineteen of the 
most prominent of them out of the county out of the so-called '' sov- 
ereign " province of New York, to Philadelphia, where they M'ere 
imprisoned. Yet this was done by men who wei-e then in arms 



11) 

for tlio rio-litf* wliicli they inherited in Mao-na Charta and the 
Bill of Itio'hts, and whose res])€H^t for trial by jury and the writ 
of IIaJ/eaj< Coi'pu.s was i)robably not less, we will say, than that 
(►f the editors of The World and Journal of Commerce^ or even 
his }?].\cellencv (Jovenioi' Seyuioni". For tlieir names were 
(ireorg'e Washino'ton, Thomas. Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, 
Benjamin Fi'anklin, John Adams, Chai'les Carroll, and Thomas 
Pinkney — bnt is it necessary to ii'<» fnrther down the illnsti'ions 
rolW 

Fortunately for us, and that a precedent of hig-hest author- 
ity miu"ht be left for the guidance of our National Executive, 
civil and military, in these trying times, both the parties to this 
significant case of arbiti-ary arrest, left the reasons for their 
action upon record. The Provincial Congress declared that 
'' the majority ot the inhabitants of Queens county, having av( >wed 
a design of remaining inactive spectators of the contest, and 
shown a general want of public s])irit," " those who refuse to 
defend their country should be excluded from its protection, 
and prevented from doing it injury^ They then passed an act 
which amounted to a virtual outlawry of these men, and which 
])rovided that any attorney or lawyer who should prosecute or 
defend any suit at laM' for any one of them, should be treated 
as a public enemy. {Journal of Congress for January 2d, 1770.) 
Washington in his correspondence at the time, gave as his reason 
that, " (Jur enemies from the other side of the Atlantic will be 
sutticiently numerous ; it concerns us to ha/ve as few iyiteriud ones 
as possible. "'' {Writmgs of Washi7igion, vol. iii., ]ip. 230, 255). 
To folk»w out this important, may I not say this leading case, 
the Provincial Congress was finally obliged to leave these vic- 
tims of arbitrary arrest, to be dealt with by the authoi'ities of 
the comuionwealth in which thev lived. But as the hiji'h Con- 
stitutional authority above quoted, Mr. Curtis tells us, this was 
n(»t because Congress had not performed "a high act of sover- 
eignty, which was entirely within the true scope of its powers, "" 
(though remember that the (Tovernment of the sovereign peoi)le 
of the ITnited States was not yet established), but l)ecause " it 
had not tinally severed the tic which bound the counti'v to 
Great J^ritain, and because it had no cixil niachinerv of its own 



20 



tlii'oii^h wJiicli its (>] (('rations could l»e ediidnctcd.'" Tlii^ di?;- 
idiility ceased wlicii that sovereiirnty was establislied tliii'teeii 
years at'tcrwai'ds. And now, sir, I ;i|)])rclicnd that we oiiii'lit t.> 
liear no nioi-e of lack of aiitliority on the jiart of the Coni- 
nnindcr-in-Cliief of tlie ai-niies of the Indted States to arrest, 
by iinlitar\' foi'cc, in time of cixil war, at his ]ii'o|ici- peril as 
l>ro\ide(l in the Constitution, any man wiioni he has reason to 
believe '"adlieres to the public enemy'' of his conntry, or 
"whom tlie safety of that (-(Mint ry i"e(|nires to he '' prcv cntcHl from 
doin<;- it injury.'" 

It would seem, indeed, as if in a city in whidi the old |)i-(»- 
vost still stands, in which hundreds of Tories wei'c imprisoned 
without '■' jr/'occs-'i ()fl(fiv'' hy the indignant army of the ]>atriots 
umler Waslnni>;ton tbi- acts which tended to aid and comfort the, 
enemy, only about eiii'hty-nine years ag"o, it wei-e not neces- 
sary to cite authorities. Our fatliei's of the Ile\'olntion thouiiht 
it more important to secure tlie liberty of tbeii' conntiw upon a 
permanent basis, to secure their own liberties, than to |)rt»tect 
semi-traitoi's and suspected spies from arrest, even if such arrests 
were by the nnditai'v arm without due ])rocess of law. 

Indcecj, the doctrine; that the military cannot arrest without 
due pi'ocess of law in tim(M)f civil war is a new conceit invented 
bv disloyal |»ersonsdurin<i;; this wai", t(» enable Rebel sympathizers 
to publish treasonable articles whieli will divide and weaken 
the supporters of (Tovernment, and thus aid the ])ubHc enemy, 
and also to screen from deserved })unishment men who have 
furinslied ai'ms and supplies to the liebels throno-h Nassau. 

In truth, those who are such sticklers foi' immunity from, 
arrest, the freedom <»f speech and tVeedom of the press, seem 
to be (pnte williui;- that liberty shall he entirely o\ ci'throw n, 
;ind anarcli\- establislie(| on the ruins of this (Ttovermnent, if 
they can succeed only in protectinjj; tVoni arrest those w ho are 
plotting;; for the oM-rthrow of that (TOvernment. The doctrine 
is never appealed to except in behalf of traitors. AV^>l4l(l it not 
be a better policv at a time like this to subnn't to a little ii'reiiu- 
laritv in the admiinsti'atioii of formal justice — some mistakes 
e\en to be made in the matter of arrests — than to protect our 
lilierties ])\ an arl(itrar\ rule imipplicable to the events actually 



21 

takiiio- ]>laoe l)ef()re us, and wliicli, if rigidly enforced, wonld 
render tliis onr third War of Inde[)enden('e nuo-atory and nn- 
availino'. J^,nt it needs not that the question should be thus 
l>ut. ( )ur laws at present are suffieient for the emergency. It 
is only re(jnisite tliat they sliould 1>e understood and enforced. 
V>y thiise.laws and oni' (constitution, the legislative, executiye, 
jii(h'cial, and niilitai-y de])artnients are established. Each acts 
in its own ])articular s]>here independently <»f the otiiers, ])nt in 
harmony witli the wliole. Neither of tliese (le])artments can 
encroach upon the powers of the others; nor will it, so long as 
it is govei'ned by the rules established by oiu' beautiful but 
coin])le.\ system of government. Each of these de])artments 
determining its own powers, neither of the others can determine 
)i])on them. The remedy to be a])plied where powers are 
usurped, I haye already stated. 

To repeat all in a word. The laws of the United States 
clothe the President with an impenetrable armor of protection. 
He is not subject to the jurisdiction of a court of law when 
acting in either his Executive capacity or in his character of 
Comnuinder-in-Cliief of the Army and Navy, l)Ut he may l>e 
im))eached, and that is the only remedy for an abuse of power. 

I sn])]>ose the learned and ingenious counsel for the prose- 
cution will not contend that they could iiulict the President 
and his Cabinet for approying an act of (l(»ngress. But when 
he acts as (V)nnnander-in-Chief he and his officers are as much 
exempted from the interposition of the judiciary as when he 
acts in his Executive ca])acity; the acts conqdained of here 
were perfoi-med by the President and those who acted under 
liis orders in their military capacity, and they are actually and 
absolutely exem])t from the investigation (»f the judiciary. The 
courts have no jurisdiction of the nujtter ; the President has an 
inunniuty, (•omj)lete and absolute. Nor need it be jdeaded, foi- 
the mattei" is not matter of defense, it I'csts on, an altsem-e of 
power to investigate in the courts. 

"• Thei'c must be an ultimatum of ]>olitical power in every 
( Tovi'i'iiment ; and the pei"S(tns in whom such power is lodged, 
whoever they may be, will necessarily be in some sense abso- 
lute."— (Hargrave Juris. Ex., vol. I., p. 30:^.) 



Many, however, of tliose wiio arc ()i»|>(»se(l to tlie President, 
like tlie Attorney-deneral liere. too learned to deny these 
|)i'o|tositions, virtually admit that the coiKhict of the Pi'esident, 
as ( "oiiiiiiaii(h'i'-iii-( 'liicf, caiiiiot he iii(|iiircMl into hy tlic cix il 
nia<i"istrate, and that the words ''(hic process of hiw," apply 
nidy to the mode of the admIid>tratioii of justice in time of 
peace. >\<hiiittini;' all this, they say, that the city of New "4 oi'k 
is at peace, we lia\(' no army here, and that in this time of 
|)uhlic tran(piility General Dix was uuilty of a ciiiue in seizini*- 
the paj)ers and arrestin*;' the editors. 

What! has it come to this ^ lie indeed must be a bold 
advocate who can insist on such a pi'oposition. Is it in accord- 
ance w ith either the laws of war, or with the facts, as they are 
kn(»wn to exist i 

\\\ a welhkiiown rule of the laws of war, each individual 
])erson in eithei' nation, at war, is at war, with every })erson in 
the other. I lence the Supreme CJonrt of the United States held 
(in the Crenshaw case, I think) that all the i-esidents in the se- 
ceded States are alien enemies. It follows, as a corollary ecpially 
well settled, that the area of war is limited only by the boundaries 
of the nation, and the ( \>nnnaiidi'r-in-( 'hief is in command ot" all 
the armies, means, and ap})liances of war in the entire terri- 
tories of the Union. I fence the entire territoiw of the United 
States, in(duding New York, has been divided into nnlitai'V 
districts, under the C(>numnid of district commanders, and the 
city of Ncnv ^ Ork is as much at war with the South as any 
other p;irt t»l" the Uiuon. This is not a war of the inhabitants 
of any <>'iven portion of tei'ritory ao'ainst those of any othei- 
portion, but it is a war by the (iovernment against individual 
Rebels in ai*ms, either ivsidents of Richmond or of New ^(>rk. 
llow, too, is the fact '. \\\ point (»f fact this is a military post. 
In effect within a camp. We ha\'e an ai'iiiy here, w hicli is part 
of the Army of the Potomac, to detend the city from tbe> 
within and foes without, and (Jeneral Dix is in as full and as 
absolute command here as (ieneral (ii'ant is before Richmond, 
and it is most necessary that we should ha\'e a nulitaiw com- 
mander here. This is a pai't of tlie o'l'eat army of the liepuhlic, 
called into service to put down the Kebellion, sid)ject to the 



Jl€> 



same discipline and having the same powers as other armies in 
the field, and its commander is clothed with all the attribntes 
of the other commanders in active service. He is bound to 
obey the orders of his military chief or be punished. It comes 
then to this, if the civil magistrate had jurisdiction, if such a 
preposterous rule prevailed, General Dix would be punished by 
the civil tribunals for obeying orders, or if he disobeyed the 
orders of the Commander-in-Chief he would be punished by the 
military tribunals for that disobedience. 

Our laMS involve no such absurdity, create no such collision. 
In trutli, the civil tribunals are supreme in time of peace ; but 
the military authorities in time of war are equally supreme 
within the legitimate bounds of their jurisdiction. And this is 
a military matter wholly within the legitimate power and juris- 
<liction of the Commander-in-C^hief It is immaterial, therefore, 
whether we are in a camp or not. The act is a military act, 
and that alone exempts from lial)ility. The case of Borden, or 
Dorr War in Rhode Island, defines and limits the powers of the 
different departments, military, judicial, and executive, and 
denounces as a crime the encroachment of either upon the 
powers of the others. And it is clear from the principles laid 
down in that case, that should the judiciary attem})t to punish 
the C^ommander-in-Chief, oi' any one ivJw executes his orders^ 
the judge who should so act would render himself liable to im- 
])eachment. 

The interests of the people in this great war, and the powers 
of those whom they have invested with their sovereignty for 
the time being, are not to be interfered with with impunity. 
The impolicy of doing so is only equaled by its disloyalty. It 
would be quite in keeping for a faction to seize such an opportu- 
nity to attempt to make political capital by these events. Let 
him beware, however, who attempts to interpose his puny arm 
t(j arrest the onwai'd progress of this mighty Nation — to attempt 
to paralyze its military arm, and thus stay the Nation in its 
progress to a great destiny; for it is a course of policy better 
calculated than any other to secure the condenmation of the 
entire ]ieople, as it does now the reproach of all good men who 
understand tlie subject. As well try to arrest the course of 



24 



Niagara with a feather as to arrest the o.onr.se of tlii ^ AVar hv 
such proceecliiigs as these. It is the will >>\' the peo]>k^ that it 
should go oil. and nox popiili \(i\ del. 

Again, Cougress, pursuant to tlic powi'is delegated in the 
Constitution, lias sus])eiided tlic lndteas cor]Mi>. Wliy ( Because 
it was necessary <lufini:' flic \\;ii' to make irregular arrests of 
])ersons suspected nl' ci'inic. hut otWIiidi no |ii'oof df guilt conld 
at the luoment he funiislicd. 'rii;it net \\a> designed to author- 
ize such jtri'ests MS tlicsc l)v tin- nnlitai'v ai'in ot' tlu' (io\ crnnient. 
The wisdom ol' tlint ;ic1 ;dl nin>t concede wlio know the history 
of the War. This city has t'urin>hed arm.-, |)rovisions, clothing, 
and medicines to the liehels tlii-ough the poii ol' Nassau. Now 
it was necessai'v to arrest these, treasoiudile dealings, and to do 
so the CoiniMander-iii-( 'liiet' has the power, under the act of ( 'oii- 
gress, to order an ai"re>t of susj)ecte(l pei'sons, who ai'e to he de- 
tained in piMson and denie(l the haheas corpus. I'liis the safety 
of the Ivepuhlic <leniands. So/i/.s j)nj)i'// .si/j/re/na le.i'. A more 
direct legislative authority to make such arrests is found in the 
act of Congress cominouly called the Indeninitv act. in Jones 
<<//#. Seward the(7eueral Term of the Supreme Court of this Dis- 
trict declai'cd this act, including its 4tli section, to l»t' constitu- 
tional, notwithstandiuii' the learned and ini>;enious criticisms of 
Mr. District-Attorney Hall. That statute ahsolutely e\enn)ts 
Geu. Dix. froui punislunent for any act diMie pursuant to the 
orders of the President. K\-en if the act were erroneous the 
exemption is full, perfect, and complete. 

Jjastly: I <lisclaim ])lacing the ai'gument on f-o low a gi'ound 
as to sav that it was done without criminal intent and so cannot 
he punished as a crime. Having an impenetrahle shield, I dis- 
claim the use of less iuipregnahle armor. 

Gen. Dix is a })atriot, engaged in the discharge of the highest 
duties which now devolve on tlK> patriots of this iiati<in, and he 
has discharged his duties with patriotic ardor from the time he 
ordered an officer, that if any man attempted to strike the Hag, 
he was to ''shoot him on the sjtot,"" until the present moment. 
He — untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, ])r(')(ligal of 
himself, generous, modest, hra\e; with so much intellect aiul so 
much devotion to his duty — deserves the crow n of the i)atriot 



25 

and champion of the right. Yet this man, this glorious gray- 
liaired man is charged with crime. 

Mark liim well, at the time this event occurs ; he pauses 
for a moment, — witli much work done already, but his hardest 
life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, a fine 
martial figure, standing full in the sunlight, though all the 
scene around him is wrapped in gloom — a commanding figure, 
entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of 
great powers must always command. A light physiognomy ; 
a quick, imposing head ; gray, close-clipped hair ; an eagle's 
eye ; a man always ready, never alarmed ; living in the senate, 
the cabinet, or the saddle, ever present where duty demands — • 
such is Dix the Patriot ! Dix, whom the enemies of his countr}^ 
would make criminal. Let those beware who touch a hair of 
his head. He represents the Sovereignty of the People in this 
District, and the people will protect liim. 

But to resume. We are engaged in a war to defend the ex- 
istence of the National Government, a government which is the 
first and only successful Republican Government, in which liberty 
has been duly protected, without descending into anarchy. In 
this contest the armies of the Union have not met all the ene- 
mies of the Nation. Faction has stimulated some of our citizens 
to the verge of treason, till they raise their puny hands, and 
exert all their pigmy powers, to thwart and render nugatory all 
the efforts of the Government to put down the Rebellion, at a 
time when the fire of civil war is at the vitals of the Republic. 
These two newspapers in their own way, and so far as their 
powers have extended, have used all .heir ability, all their skill, 
and their utmost resources, in the cause of the Rebellion ; and 
much more effectually than if they had been in the Rebel 
States. And in Home Tooke's case it was decided that an 
overt act of treason might be committed by writing and print- 
ing treasonable matter, if it led to riotous assemblies, to oppose 
the Government by violence. The Rebellion, instead of hiding 
away, and crawling off in secret as formerly, now raises its 
crest and spits and mutters its treason, in the very face of the 
Government, in the daily columns of these papers. 

So, too, a small branch of a discontented party, as if de- 



2G 



inciited, as ifimablc to see tliat the entire ])COple liave doter- 
iniiied to assert tlieir supreme sovereignty, tlic unity and indi- 
visibility of tJie republic, and t]iat tliey Avill repel all assaults 
U})on it, institute such measures as this prosecution, to annoy, 
harass, and thwart the Government in conducting this war to 
a successful conclusion, as well as to create dissensions among 
loyal ])eople. 

T]\e example furnished by the history of the war of the 
United Provinces, afterward the United States of Holland 
against Spain, contains an instructive lesson, teaching the im- 
portance of unity of action in war, and the necessity of avoiding 
dissensions and tlie fatal consequences which are sure to flow 
from them, wlierc the military authority is not centered in a 
sinu-le head. The forces of the States were more than enoui>-h 
to have defeated the Spanish on many occasions after the death 
of William of Orange (usually called "William the Silent), but 
when he ceased to direct the military anii, there was so nuicli 
internal dissension, so much bickering between the Earl of Lei- 
cester (whom Elizabeth had appointed her Governor-General) 
and the estates and rulers of the cities, that efficient and united 
action became impossible. And the painful consequences of 
these dissensions and this want of unity, soon exhibited them- 
selves in the surrender of Antwerj), Sluys, and many other of 
the cities of the States, until they were brought to the brink ol" 
]-uin. The English would not act with the Dutch, nor tlie 
Dutch cordially with the English. AVliat was planned by Prince 
Meurice or his Lieutenant-General, the celebrated Count IIo- 
henlo, was derided and opposed by Leicestei", or Sir Philij* 
Sidney, (»r Black John Korris, so that at the last there was n(» 
unity, no leader, no a('ti\e and efficient warfare made by these 
world-renowned generals against the Si)anish ; while on the 
(itlicr hand, the S})anish troo])s, nniU'd nnd efficientl}' led by the 
Duke of Parnia, one of the gi-eatest captains of tlie age, were 
:d>le to acconq)lish great results indeed, in two years, from 
1 5S5 to 1587. As we read in the eloquent ]>ages of Motley, Parma 
\crv neai'lv succeeded in the conquest of llie entire counti'v, 
;iii(l iii'(.li:iM\' wt>nld h;i\ e (lone so Imt I'oi' t he loss ol' the Spanish 
Anii:i<!:(, nnd ol I ht losses which rarnia surilained by reason of 



27: 

his attempt to join that great fleet and invade England with 
his entire land as well as sea forces. 

Perhaps, however, the ni(»st instructive lesson furnished by 
the page of history on this subject, is to be found in Napoleon's 
campaigns in Italy in 170(3 and 7. lie, and he alone, led the 
French army, and controlled all its movements with a rod of 
iron. lie never had more than 80,000 men in the held at any 
one time, until he invaded Austria, and then he took with him 
onlv 50,000 to 55,000 men. It was with the 30,000 men that 
he ffained his most brilliant victories. WitJi that small force 
lie defeated four Austrian armies, none of which were less than 
t>0,000 strong, aud commanded by the ablest warriors of the 
age, such as Marshall Wurmser, Alvinzi, Quasdanovich, Boil- 
lean, and the Archduke Charles of Austria. 

Tlie secret of Napoleon's success lies chiefly in unity of action, 
the concentration of all power in himself, his admirable disci- 
pline, his complete control of all the avenues through which in- 
formation could reach the enemy, and the absence of all dissen- 
sion either in the army or in France. Did a newspaper utter 
an indiscreet word, it was suppressed ; Avas an order disobeyed, 
ur even obeyed with lukewarmness, the officer guilty of the 
neglect was discharged at the very least, if not tivied by a Court- 
Martial and punished. A Captain who had allowed himself to 
be coo])ed up in a tower with three hundred soldiers, in the 
centre of a town, and the town to be taken by a force Ave 
times greater than his own, he caused to be tried and shot 
because he had not made greater eftbrts to defend the town. 
Cowardice, thus punished as the highest of crimes, at once 
ceased to exist in the army, and his soldiers gained victories 
which seem to be almost miraculous. With 15,000 men he de- 
feated 45,000 Austrians at Areola, and finally, with his cannon 
thundering ahnost at the gates ofYienna, he compelled Austria 
to nuike a peace with the French liepublic which was of the 
most advantageous character to France, whose boundaries were 
carried by it to the Rhine, wdiile Austria was stripped of many 
valuable provinces. 

AVithout cpioting historical examples, it must be apparent 
to the most casual reader, that unity of action, concentration of 



^s 



command in the hands of a single leader, and concentrationj 
not dispersion of forces, are each and all indispensably requisite 
to success. 

In this "war we have sadlv violated these fundamental rules ; 
but without dwelling farther upon them, I desire to call atten- 
tion for a moment to the almost criminal dissensions which 
have prevailed at the Korth throughout the war, and which 
have been kept up, if they were not originated by the news- 
papers. 

The pernicious effect of an article, such as that published on 
the 8th page, first and second columns of The World on Friday 
last (the 15th July, inst.), can scarcely be under estimated. 

The correspondent of The Woi'ld said, in speaking of 
an interview between the writer of the communication and 
a Eebel officer (and it is worthy of remark, that the facility 
of communication between the writers for The World and the 
Eebels, is apparently very great, ^m\ that thej^ often avail 
themselves of it), that the Kebel officer said, " That at the 
battle of the Wilderness, Grant massed his men and hurled 
them against impregnable works, time and time again, when 
it could not but have been apparent to him that no slight chance 
existed for him to damage their troops in the least by such 
sacrifices. The slaughter was so great that the Union dead 
were piled in heaps, and the Confederate troops hesitated to 
continue the firing against the poor fellov/s ^^'ho were rushing 
on to certain death. Frequently he heard them curse Grant 
for his harljarity in expos'ng his men to such fearfid carnage.''^ 

All this is said to prove the general allegation made a little 
above in the same communication, that " Another reason they 
have for thinking this campaign will close the war, as they state 
it, is that Gen. Grant is so hihumanly unsparing of the lives of 
his soldiers he loill soon use up all the men yen (wo can raise 
to keep up the army," 

It might be thought by some, from this isolated passage, 
that perhaps the article is inofiensive, as it merely states tliese 
matters as the opinions of Ttebels, to M'hom the editor had as 
great a feeling of hostility as either you, sir, or I myself. Not 
so, however, for the writer has taken great pains to commend 



29 

the Rebels higbly in the same letter, lest their opinions should 
not have all due weight. He says, in a preceding passage of 
the same article : " / believe I have already stated that the 
hehavior of the Rebels toward residents of the countrv through 
which they passed was gentlemanly and courteous. The men 
under Early, with very few exceptions, seemed to respect them- 
selves too much to wantonl}' outrage the feelings of anybody ; 
and even when insulted by foolish persons, forbore to resent 
with bitterness." 

All this is said in commendation of the murderers and horse 
thieves and thieves of every sort who followed Imboden and 
other guerilla leaders, and Avho have recently swarmed through 
Western Maryland — men who robbed the stores and banks and 
levied black mail on the toAvns not only, but who stripped the 
clothing otF from their prisoners, taking everything down to 
General Franklin's hat, at a time when he was quite ill, and 
stripping the passengers in the cars of their money, their clothes, 
their shoes, "m this gentlemanly and courteous^'' style, while 
others stole the trunks and women's dresses, even refusing Mrs. 
Bradford leave to take her clothes ; still others robbed the 
farmers of their horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens, and poul- 
try of all sorts. This the writer of the letter well knew, and 
yet he vouches for their '"''gentlemanly and courteous" deport- 
ment, tor the purpose of giving weight to the statement of 
Grant's inhumanity, Grant's brutality, and the murder of his 
soldiers by thousands at the Wilderness, and all the other 
falsehoods Avith Avhich that letter abounds. Grant, whose 
splendid strategy is the theme of the unbounded praise of all 
the military critics of the land ; Grant, Avho is dealing deatli- 
bloAvs to the Rebellion, at its very vitals, must be (say they) 
injured as much as possible. Hence, at a time when a fresh 
call is made by the President for 500,000 men — at such a time 
the loyal World hastens to publish, taking care to place the 
Avords in the mouth of a Rebel officer, but one Avho is " gen- 
tlemanly and courteous," that Grant is an " inhuman " monster, 
Avho " masses his men, hurls them against impregnable works," 
Avhich it Avas certain they could not take. The words are 
placed in the mouth of a Rebel, that the editor may excuse 



30 



himself with the flimsy apology that they are the langiwi^e of a 
Rebel, and do not purport to be his own statement ; Init by 
his mode of statement in etlect, lie vouches as strongly for 
their ti-utli as if they li;i<l Im-cii made in direct terms l)y him- 
self. The object of i>ublisliing such a letter at sucli ;i time 
it is not ditiii'ult to perceive. A bolder stroke, in ert'ect to 
prevent men tVoni joining tlie army, has not been made since 
the war began, nor one mure skillful and ingenious; and it is 
calculated to produce a greater impression, to create more ilis- 
sension, to induce desertions and pi-event enlistments, than if 
the charge had been made in direct terms hy the editors, "^'et 
the editors of The World claim to be War Democrats, and they 
claim for their paper that it ])atri()tically sustains the war. 

I submit these ])assages from The World without further 
comment. They are their o\\ n commentator. To othei's they 
may seem harndess; to me they are the utterances of open, 
flagrant treason. ()tliei's may deem il a great crime to suspend 
such a pa])er for a day; to me it seems clear that it should be 
suppressed altogether. 

1 see by to-day's World that another eft'ort is made to dis- 
courage the negroes and prevent them from enlisting. I (piote 
a. single sentem^e, which breathes the s})irit of the whole. It is 
a part of the heading of the article, in large letters, '''' Darkle li to 
the front ^ w tliat Yankees may stay at Iwmer 

Neither Napoleon, Wellington, Washington, nor any great 
nulitary conunander would have pernutted such a pai)er to l)e 
puldished a day after |)ul)lishing an article with such a manifest 
intent; ami it is more than probalfle that their utterance would 
have cost the editors their lives in either Russia, Austria, or 
France, it not even in Kngland. 1 1 oriie Tooke was convicted 
of the crime of high ti'eason and sentenced for the pulflication 
of far less ofl'ensive woi-ds in res})ect to the Tiritish Army after 
the battle of Concord, during the Revolutioiuiry War. 

I rejoice that this proceeding was taken before a judge of i)ene- 
tration sufficient to see the right and courage enough to discharge 
his duty. Be assured the Grand Jury, in refusing even to 
consider the accusation })resented against General Uix, correctly 
reflected the sentiments of this community, and any departure 



31 

from those will not be sustained by the people. Faction has 
made the politicians mad on this snbject. They boldly demand 
that yon will fovcibl}^ wrest a pr()^^sion of the Constitution, 
which was designed to reo;nhite the conrse of the administration 
of justice in a judicial tribunal in a time of peace, and apply it 
to the Executive and Military Departments of the Government, 
in a time of war, and thus violate the statutes of the United 
States and the Constitution by which that military power was 
created, wlien it was called forth for the defense of the nation. 

Let those who oppose the mighty destinies of this great 
nation beware the punishment which awaits them. Those who 
rush u]>on the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler must 
expect to be ground to powder by his wrath. And I as firmly 
believe that the destinies of this nation are in his Holy keeping 
as I believe in any other great manifestation of His providence. 
He will lead us and never forsake us till we have passed 
tlirf>ugh this wilderness of war, and emerged therefrom puri- 
tied, elevated, and fitted to enjoy the promised land of liberty 
and happiness that lies beyond. The futnre of this conntry is 
1 (right and M'ill be as glorious as liberty, peace, and prosjjerit}' 
can make it. I believe the man-child is now born, who will live 
to see the United States occupied by 300,000,000 of free and 
ha]>py citizens. 

AVitli some among ns it is believed, so far as acts indicate 
belief — now that the storm and the tempest are blowing from 
afar upon our conmion conntry — that chaos and confusion are 
the deities at whose shrine we must devoutly pay our devotions. 
Not so with the humble advocate who now in all solemnity and 
sincerity addresses you. " Let every sonl be subject nnto the 
higher ])owers.''' For there is nc^ power bnt of God. 

You ai'C a magistrate, jn'esiding in a fornm where your 
decisions have the force of law, 1 pray yon, that yon also 
respect and honor the Chief Magistrate of this great nation 
when he is acting in his military capacity as Commander-in- 
Chief of our Armies and Navy; and reniend)er the just limit 
of your jurisdiction in the forum; of his in the camp, and all 
that is connected with tlie cam]) and its atfairs. Reflect — youi- 
elassic-al reminiscences will aid von to tlie recollection — 'that in 



32 

an ancient Roman camp lie who entered the Pretorian Gate 
must first he committed to the Centurion and his guard, or the 
Lictor with liis fasces and rod, till his real character could be 
ascertained. He was presumed to be an enemy because he 
came in at the enemies' gate. How much more is there reason 
to suppose that theywlio daily advocate the cause of Rebels, 
who ])ublish forged documents which, in point of fact, do 
" aid " the Rebels and assault the credit of your country abroad, 
at a time too when your Secretary of the Treasury is nego- 
tiating for a loan of $400,000,000 with foreign bankers, which 
had not when this event occurred been obtained, and may in- 
deed have been defeated by these very publications — reflect, I 
repeat, that those whoseconduct is so marked by indications 
of a desire to serve the Rebels, may well have been treated by 
the military authorities as suspected persons ; as having entered 
at the Pretorian Gate ; as prima facie enemies, and, for the time 
being, that it was proper to hand them over to the Centurion 
for safe-keeping. 

You will, I know, decide the case fearlessly and honestly, 
and in doing so you will at least deserve, and I believe obtain, 
all honor from those who desire the impartial administration of 
justice. 

AMICUS CITRUS. 
Dated July, 1864. 



lis?/ ^'^ CONGRES? 



012 028 953 6 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




012 028 953 6 



^ 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



L 



